Dive Sites

Our fast 27′ RHIB allows us to chase the best conditions on the island of Kauai from Northwest, West, Southwest, South, Southeast. Have a special request? Let us know!

This is a list of our frequented dive sites. Some sites aren’t offered by anyone else, they are our hidden gems.

Shore Dive

Koloa Landing Shore Dive– Currently, Koloa Landing is the only shore dive on the island that is being dove by companies who have commercial permits. With Waikomo Stream emptying directly on to the dive site it is nutrient rich and hosts a wide variety of marine life! Oh, and did I mention turtles!? Another highlight of this site is the huge variety of moray eels! Don’t be surprised if we point out 5 or 6 different species on any give dive. The snowflake and dragon moray are rarely seen on our boat dive sites but can be found here on a daily basis! Octopus, blue spotted cornet fish, frog fish, orange mouth lizard fish, and endemic tropical reef fish are also fun to point out to our customers! This is a great dive site for discover divers and certified divers who haven’t dove in a while. We include free refreshers for certified divers!

Boat Dive Sites (6 divers or less)

Local Boat Dive Sites

Hale o Honu (House of the Turtles)– This is my and Nick’s favorite dive site, by a long shot. On a lot of our charters we end up doing 2 dives in this area because customers love it so much. Depth range is from 20-65 ft and this place is stuffed with marine life! Usually mellow surface conditions and light or no current. Hands down, the best turtle cleaning station on the island! Here you will be able to see the symbiotic relationship between our surgeon fish and the threatended Green Sea Turtles. Surgeonfish’s favorite meal is algae and they are smart enough to know if they set up a station that they can get a free meal. The turtles love getting their shells cleaned. Generations of surgeonfish will keep this station up and running for years to come. The turtles steal the show at this dive site but there is so much more to see. Day Octopus, Nudibranchs, yellow margin morays, spiny lobster, white tip reef shark, frog fish, red and green lion fish, bicolor anthias, leaf scorpion fish, fischers angelfish, flame angelfish, bandit angelfish, giant porcupinefish, curious worm fish, and the ocassional critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle.

Amber’s Arches– This is one of my favorite deeper sites. This dive site can be advanced because of potentially rough surface conditions, and strong currents. Depth range is between 40-80 feet. The topography here is stunning with a huge arch at the base of the mooring. Underneath the arch is beautiful orange cup coral and healthy stalks of black coral with longnose hawkfish. People who have dove in Hawaii a lot will be surprised to see the sponge crab, bicolor anthias, ghost shrimp, and yellow hairy hermit crab. These are all rare yet can be found regularly at this site.

Gilded Ledge– Gilded ledge we do as a live drop drift. It usually has current, and on certain days the current is very strong. Depth range is from 45 feet to 90 feet and is considered an advanced dive. This is the only area where I have seen the beautiful gilded triggerfish! Pennant butterfly steal the show when they feed on plankton in the water column. In caves along this long ledge system you can find large Jacks (blue fin trevally, giant trevally). This is also a great dive site to find the yellow margin moray with white stripe cleaner shrimp cleaning them.

Cliff Hanger– Another beautiful dive site with overhangs covered in orange cup coral and black coral. Excellent dive site for nudibranchs. If you spend time under the arches you will see many feeding on sponge and laying their egg casings. A great site to run into the vibrant yellow hairy hermit crab, sponge crab, sculpted slipper lobster, spiny lobster, orange cup coral, peacock razor wrasse, long nose hawk fish, endemic red lion fish, octopus, and huge moray eels!

Radio Tower– Beginner dive site depth ranges from 25-50ft and generally currents are light. A cool spot that guarantees turtles! This area has lots of neat lava formations that create fingers that go in and out. Lots of pukas (holes) to look for lobsters and red fish (menpachi). Great nudibranch site for you nudi lovers!

Turtle Bluffs– Intermediate to advanced dive site with depth ranging from 40-95 feet. Currents can rip on this beautiful ledge system. A lot of times we run this as a drift dive. If currents are strong enough it is not uncommon to drift through Fish bowl and all the way to General Store. (or vice versa depending on current direction). If you haven’t seen the beautiful 3 and half foot long Spotted Knifejaw this is the place to see it! Common to see the bandit angelfish, dragon wrasse, black triggers, nudibranchs, grey snapper, pyramid butterfly, pennant butterfly, huge schools of blue stripe snapper, giant porcupine fish, spotted puffer, green sea turtles (turtle cleaning station.

Fish Bowl– one of the fishiest sites on the south side! Black triggers, blue stripe snapper, and pennant butterfly form huge schools of fish! The rare reticulated butterfly can be found here. There is a huge sink hole here which is fun to dive into.

Shoots and Ladders– Fish, Fish, Fish! This spot is teaming with fish! A beautiful reef that meets pristine white sand! On a clean day this dive site is breath taking. Great place to see the rare knife jaw and can almost guarantee a green sea turtle!

Speak Easy- This dive site reminds me of Ni’ihau. As you descend on to the site you are greeted by a wall of pennant, millet seed, and pyramid butterfly fish. Massive stalks of black coral swing back and forth on the wall. Gorgeous! Excellent invertebrate spot, but don’t keep your head down looking for nudibranchs because hammerhead sharks, giant trevally, and ono (wahoo) will swim right by you. If there is any current here this site is crazy exciting!

Na Pali Coast/ Mana Crack Dive Sites

Mana Crack is an 11 mile long sunken barrier reef that has many different drop points. This is the furthest off shore dive site in the state of Hawaii! There are no moorings to tie up to and currents can be strong. All dives are done as a live drop drift so it is considered advanced diving. If you are a newer diver and are really interested in doing our Mana Crack/Napli Coast dive come do a check out dive with us at a local dive site and we will let you know if you are ready!

Mana Crack is known for its amazing visibility and unique topography. Great place to see large barracuda, spotted eagle rays, and white tip reef sharks. If you dive in Kauai a lot you will be surprised to see the java moray, rainbow runner, grey reef shark, stripe belly puffer, black surgeonfish and wringtail wrasse. We start with a deeper dive between 60-100 ft followed by an hour and a half long surface interval exploring the insanely beautiful Na Pali Coast! We can even take you in and out of the sea caves! The second dive is done a little shallower usually between 45-80 feet on a different drop point. Usually a few miles apart!

Ni’ihau (The Forbidden Island) and Lehua Rock

This is hands down our favorite place to dive. Why do we love Ni’hau so much? A lot of the times when we get to Niihau there isn’t another soul out there except for the dolphins and sea birds who greet us as we arrive! Underwater, the marine life is awesome, visibility is excellent, and the topography is stunning. Divers who love bigger marine life like seals(summer time), manta rays(winter), humpback whales (winter), and sharks will be in heaven here! The critically endangered and endemic Hawaiian monk seals love it here! Divers sometimes will spend an entire dive with a seal following them around curiously making growling and whooping sounds! I would say with little doubt that this is the best place in the entire state of Hawaii to have an encounter with this rare monk seal!

Unfortunately, we can only cross the channel when the winds are light. It’s more likely we will be able to cross in the summer because the north swell is generally down. We cross conditions permitting all year round!

Vertical Awareness– This huge pinnacle goes from 300 ft all they way up to 45 ft! Its not uncommon to see 3 or 4 species of sharks on one dive at this site and the seals love it here! Its common to see large bait balls of small fish getting hit by multiple species of large predatory fish! If you haven’t seen this, you are in for a treat! The pinnacles are covered with large schools of butterfly fish that feed on plankton as the currents pass by. I could watch this all day! The rare Endemic Red Lion Fish, Tinkers Butterflyfish, Long Handed spiny lobster, bicolor anthias, black stripe coris can all be found here.

Keyhole Drift to Lehua Gardens – This site is awesome!! If the conditions are right this is a really fun drift dive. If you haven’t seen the grey reef shark this is the spot to see them. I’ve seen schools of 30 plus grey reef sharks here many times. Schools of spotted eagle rays will swim back and forth here as well. If the current is strong enough you will get to Lehua Gardens where there are walls of dense leather coral (soft). I keep my head on a swivel here, whale sharks and tiger sharks cruise through every now and then!
Ni’ihau Arches- The topography here is insane! Usually conducted as a drift we take you through a series of sea caves and lava tubes! My favorite is when we finally end with TV Cave! It looks like and underwater drive in movie theater! The Hawaiian conger eel, red striped pipe fish, orange cup coral, ghost shrimp, juvenile dragon wrasse, indigo dart fish, long nose hawk fish, bicolor anthias, and wild boar fish are rare marine life species found on this amazing dive site.

Neon Cave to Pyramid Point drift – If the surf is down you can actually swim into the beautiful neon sea cave. As you descend and head out of the cave the water is neon blue, absolutely beautiful! On your way to pyramid point is a great spot to see multiple species of sharks swimming by. Pyramid point has an amazing vertical wall with schooling butterflyfish.